Editing Committee on Evil Literature

{{Short description|1926 Irish Censorship Enquiry}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2013}}
The '''Committee on Evil Literature''' was a committee set up by the [[Irish Free State]]'s Department of Justice in 1926 to look into censorship of printed matter.

After independence in 1922, the authorities of the Irish Free State came under increasing pressure to ban materials considered obscene or liable to corrupt public morals. In October 1925, the Minister for Justice, [[Kevin O'Higgins]], told ''[[Dáil Éireann]]'' that existing [[obscenity]] laws were sufficient and the government had no right to further interfere with people's personal freedom. He received heavy criticism for these remarks and mounting public pressure persuaded him, on 12 February 1926, to appoint a departmental committee, the Committee on Evil Literature, to consider and report "whether it is necessary or advisable in the interest of the public morality to extend the existing powers of the State to prohibit or restrict the sale and circulation of printed matter".

==1926 committee==

The committee of three laymen and two clergymen, one [[Roman Catholic]] and one [[Church of Ireland]], met at 24 Kildare Street, [[Dublin]], between February and December 1926 to hear and consider submissions from a variety of sources, including the [[Garda Síochána|Garda]], secular and religious organisations and members of the public, and reported to O'Higgins on 28 December. Its findings were that existing laws were inadequate to deal with obscene material and that the state had a duty to enforce controls on the production and distribution of obscene and "morally corrupting" literature. It also recommended the establishment of a [[Censorship of Publications Board (Ireland)|censorship board]].

The opinions of the committee, and those who submitted evidence to it on what should be banned, ranged very widely. Publications that the Roman Catholic Church considered to be obscene included the newspapers ''[[News of the World]]'', ''[[The Sunday People|The People]]'', ''[[Sunday Chronicle]]'' and ''[[Daily Mail]]'', and the magazines ''[[Vogue magazine|Vogue]]'', ''[[Woman's Weekly (UK magazine)|Woman's Weekly]]'', ''[[The Woman's World|Woman's World]]'', ''[[Illustrated Police News]]'' and most girls' picture papers.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} The objection to the more populist newspapers appears to have been that their detailed reporting of murders and other violent crimes depraved the readers. All [[birth control]] literature was also considered to be obscene. Other examples of obscene literature submitted to the committee ranged from photographs of dancers to advertisements for [[depilation|depilatory cream]].

The Committee on Evil Literature ceased to exist once its report was completed and presented to the Minister for Justice on 28 December 1926.

==1929 Censorship of Publications Board==

The [[Censorship of Publications Board (Ireland)|Censorship of Publications Board]] was established under the Censorship of Publications Act 1929, and the scope of its work was expanded by two further acts in 1946 and 1967.

==See also==
*[[Censorship in the Republic of Ireland]]
*[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]

==References==
* {{cite book |url=http://opac.oireachtas.ie/AWData/Library3/Library2/DL068551.pdf |format=PDF |title=Report |author=Committee on Evil Literature |date=8 February 1927 |publisher=Stationery Office |location=Dublin |accessdate=5 December 2013}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/evil_lit/article.htm National Archives of Ireland: "Ferreting out Evil.  The Records of the Committee on Evil Literature"]
* [https://archive.today/20000531233319/http://www.nationalarchives.ie/cgi-bin/naigenform02?index=Dept+of+Justice+-+JUS/7 Committee on Evil Literature database] (archived 2000)

[[Category:Conservatism in Ireland]]
[[Category:Irish Free State]]
[[Category:Book censorship in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:1926 in Ireland]]